It often takes too long in Pasco for responders to get to fires and medical emergencies, two men representing the county’s professional firefighters told the Pasco County Commission at its board meeting earlier this month.
Robert Fuerst and Dixon Phillips — spoke during the public comment portion of the board’s April 5 meeting, and they had plenty to say.
Fuerst told the county board that “41,365 calls for service in 2021 exceeded the 10-minute threshold to get the first unit on the scene.”
He continued: “That means it takes more than 10 minutes to get a fire engine on a scene in a day and age where houses can be fully engulfed in flames in less than 5 minutes.”
Additionally, nearly 10,000 of the 89,447 calls for service in Pasco County last year took 15 minutes to get the first paramedic on scene, Fuerst added.
“Imagine having to perform CPR or rescue breathing for one of your loved ones for that period of time and then having to possibly wait longer (for the ambulance to show up), while the fire engine does the same thing you did for the past 15 minutes,” he said.
Fuerst also told the board that between Jan. 1 and March 13, of this year, Pasco Fire Rescue declared Signal 40 — meaning no ambulance was available on one side of the county, or the other side, or both — for a grand total of 1,586 minutes.
That equates to a total of 26 hours in a period of roughly 100 days, he said.
“As staggering as this statistic is, it’s only the beginning. How many minutes was there only one ambulance, or two ambulances to send in Pasco County? How long was the response to the next 9-1-1 call for that ambulance. What was the preventable, negative effect on that person or that house that we were trying to protect from a fire?” he asked.
County’s rapid growth affecting response times
Normally, the annual increase in calls is around 5%, but Pasco’s was 16% in 2021, he said.
“We attribute it directly to the growth, the unfettered growth, in the county,” he said.
“We need more funding to perform essential services we are tasked with providing. We need this board to be the public safety advocates they claim to be and provide the funding we so desperately need,” he said.
Dixon Phillips, the District 3 representative of IAFF Local 4420, reminded board members that he and other union members had appeared before the board in July requesting an increase in the Municipal Services Taxing Unit to increase support for fire and rescue services.
“We told you that response times were longer than ever and we were experiencing an increase in call volume that this county has never seen.
“You ignored us,” he said.
He said the National Fire Protection Association has a standard that calls for an advanced life support unit to arrive on scene in less than 8 minutes, on 90% of all incidents.
He said Pasco isn’t meeting that standard.
“Earlier this year, a witnessed cardiac arrest occurred in Pasco County. It took 8 minutes after the 9-1-1 call was received to find units available to send. Ladder 37, which services the Sunlake area, came in service and was dispatched to the call. It took 14 minutes for Ladder 37 to arrive on scene, where unfortunately the patient was deemed dead on arrival.
“This is not the first time this has happened and, unfortunately, it won’t be the last for the foreseeable future,” Phillips said.
Besides the potential for a patient to die, there’s also the possibility of patients suffering brain damage if it takes too long for help to arrive, he noted.
Phillips also reminded the county board that County Administrator Dan Biles said that two new fire stations would be coming online and that a station that services New Port Richey would be getting another rescue.
“Well, commissioners, here we are, nine months later and we have no new stations in service, no new engines in service and no new rescues in service.
“Rescue 230, which has a station waiting for it, has sat outside of Wesley parked for months.
“Until Fire Rescue is given what it needs, civilians, both young and old, will continue to die unnecessarily. Maybe one day soon, we’ll be able to call Pasco County safe,” Phillips said.
Biles told board members that Rescue 230 is waiting for trainees to get through their training.
He also said that “Station 3 will go out to bid and start construction here, shortly, within the next quarter.”
Biles said the county is working on the next budget.
He also noted that Station 2 and Station 4 are both bond-funded fire stations and will be under construction in the next 18 months, which would include two new rescue units.
“There is a lot of stuff going on. Over the past five years, the board has increased the rescue piece of the budget almost 120%, which dwarfs just about any other increase in the county. So, there is a lot going on,” he said.
He also noted that during COVID, a lot of fire schools shut down, so the county is playing catch up.
“For a while, we had more vacancies than we had applications for. I think we have on the order of 20 to 30 firefighters going through our current training program and onboarding, in the training center, and then there’s another group after that, which should get us close to about the 20 vacancies that are planned for Station 3. They’re budgeted but won’t be filled until we’re ready to permit that station,” Biles said.
Published April 20, 2022